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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mahiro Satsu" data-source="post: 304783" data-attributes="member: 4970">Episode IX Crown of Fire part 5The History of the Selûnite OrderVol. 12, From Bane to BoonCHAPTER FIVE: The Conversion of Van DyksunReports vary about exactly what happened next. Only two people were present throughout the event, and neither spoke much of it later, although it is clear that both were changed. The following depiction, although somewhat fictionalized, is based on what could be surmised from examining various sources.Bronn looked disgusted at the ransacked bodies in front of him. Not only had his cousin and the annoying yet useful elf died, but the dirty Zhentarim had stolen what little advantage he had hoped to gain over what had become quite a collection of enemies. Van, however, was focused on one idea—how to have their friends brought back from the halls of the dead.Van looked up at the Speculum, the first time he had ever done so. Yes, he had walked through the moonbeam portal that shone from it, but he had never cast his gaze into it, seeing how it bypassed all the earth and rock that separated him from the outside. Through the lens he could see that it was night, that the sky was mostly clear with only a few wispy clouds on the edge of his vision, and the moon shone strong. It made him long for the woods and to be outside once again and not trapped in this everdark underground. He fell to his knees and lifted his voice to Selûne.“Goddess, I beseech you,” he prayed. “Have we not passed your seven trials? Are we not worthy of bearing the name of your champions? Would you favor us now, the wielders of Enthandas, part of your Moonweb, so that we can continue in our mission to remove the curse from these halls surrounding this your temple?” Van bowed his head. While not necessarily a taciturn person, this was an unusual speech from him. Something about the place, the Speculum, his recent experience as a ghost, the stress of the trials of Enthandas, or the shock of losing his best friend Velm and the courageous elf Roman Gemmalee had changed him In the years leading up to this moment, his service to Selûne had been mainly lip service—in fact, recorded in Daziel’s personal effects was a note that she had been forced to encourage the young ranger to share in her prayers to the Goddess at times during the company’s trips along the Starwater Gorge.Whatever the case, the next event was clear. A blinding, white-hot light immediately bathed both Van and Bronn in the power of Selûne. Van’s injuries, both those suffered recently from the bugbear, but also the scars he bore from his death to the Troll, miraculously vanished. Bronn, either for unbelief or a lack of respect for her eminence, could not withstand the presence of her pure light and fell to the ground in agony. In Van’s ears, and in those of our priests and priestesses of the highest level who happened to be gazing or worshipping the moon that night, the crystal voice of Selûne herself was clear:“Van Dyksun, be not troubled. You have been found worthy. You bear my mark. What is your need?”Van stammered, “To remove this curse—both Hathos’ on this city and the spread of Bane’s presence in our lands—I need my companions who fought bravely to get us here to this place but whom Bane has taken from me. Without them, I am not sure the rest of us can overcome the danger before us.”“If I return them to you, your party must do me a further service. Can you speak for them?”“I think—no, I know that I can. Yes, we will freely accept your geas.”“If that is so, bring them here to me, where my light can fill them.”Bronn, unable to hear the goddess himself, reacted immediately when Van asked him to retrieve the body of their dead companions. As Bronn and Saeita emerged from the Darkcrypt with the lifeless bodies of Velm and Roman, both dwarf and elf immediately began to stir with new life.Velm, in Bronn’s grasp, immedately seized his cousin’s neck with his strong hands. “You…have…brought me back from Clangeddin’s side,” he said, filled with rage.“Your task isn’t complete, Cousin,” Bronn reminded him. “Hathos’ curse has not yet been lifted.”Velm shook his head free of his recent encounter with paradise. “Yes, you are right.”Roman looked up to Van. “You brought us back? My life is yours. I will do whatever I can for you.”Van turned to them both, looking at them, as well as Bronn, Saeita, and Cara, who had just emerged from the Darkcrypt. “It’s not me that you owe. We all owe one much greater than me. All of us.”</blockquote>

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